John Lewis Gaddis - On Grand Strategy

One thing that permeates from the writings of Machiavelli is a severe distrust in authority. Machiavelli would know this being a former torture victim and incarcerated prisoner of war by the Medici and the Catholic Church. Machiavelli wrote in his works that an invading army should seek the favour of the inhabitants and not subject the people to oppression, but seek to gain the favour of the people. He was for the working class, and his works were read by the great military generals like Napoleon Bonaparte. Machiavelli was sort of like a socialist before socialism, this fact was noted by Antonio Gramsci who held Machiavelli, the father of modern political science in high esteem. Machiavelli is quite often cited by many political scientists.